Let's Go to the Zoo

I apologize; I have been a little behind on my writing. Every moment that I would begin to type, I negated my wishful thinking by insisting to myself that 'this was just not an insightful moment' (to write, that is). So, let me compile my thoughts to you in a most concise, yet enjoyable manner. In order to update you on my travels, I must rewind to this previous weekend, September 27th.

After an entire Friday with little excitement and lots of moseying throughout the house, we woke up Saturday with intentions for a thrilling day. This begun with a quick grocery trip in Rathmines (a little town right down the street from us that has all of the grocery stores we go to) and a delicious breakfast made by me. The girls were still sleeping. This is a traditional Irish 'rendition' I made for Adam. He wanted to take a photo:

I made the girls and I what were supposed to be pancakes. I just bought a little package that said "pancake mix" at Tesco. Unfortunately to my surprise, they tasted more like heavy crepes. I like crepes, but I really had a taste for pancakes. Also of note: the syrup here is not very sweet. I don't really like syrup either...but I approve of the SWEET stuff with my occasional pancake breakfast. I miss Mrs. Butterworth. :(

After some minute dilly-dallying, we decided to make the 4+ mile trek to the Dublin Zoo. I had been prepped to see a true masterpiece of a zoo from my professors at DIT (my school), but my roommates, Adam, and I all agreed that 1. the zoo was just not as fantastic as we had hoped or 2. Dubliners have never experienced an awe-appealing zoo before. We did get to see some animals I had never heard of before, and two hippos among a few other animals. Adam was most excited about the tigers.

We were so close to the tigers that we could nearly touch them if we stuck our hands in the bamboo bushes and through the fence.

Jeanine, Monica, Elizabeth, and I did enjoy the scenery. We justified our 10 euros spent on the trip for the pretty nature walk throughout the zoo.

This photo largely appears to be posed. However, we had to get a photo next to the giant 'dinosaur leaves' as seen behind us. They are huge!

Our 4+ mile walk to the zoo, 1 mile walk through the zoo, and anticipated 4+ mile walk back from the zoo, led us to a well-deserved drink after our excursion at the oldest pub in Dublin: Brazen Head.

The inside of the pub appeared very traditional. Before my travels to Ireland, Mr. Humes (one of my best friends, Lindsay...her dad) gave me a Chicago Police Irish patch that he said I could use to barter for drinks with in Ireland. Apparently, the people here eat that stuff up! Brazen Head had many small individual rooms full of traditional Irish instruments, fire places, photos...and one small room full of patches! It was amazing..just like Mr. Humes had told me! Unfortunately, I left my patch in my other bag at our house. I may have to make the trip back to this little touristy pub...just to have them put my patch on the wall. You can kind of see them behind Adam in this photo that I took.

We left to go home after our quick drink and slightly cultured experience: starving, tired, and a bit cold. Thank goodness there were leftovers waiting for us in the fridge.